ARMENIA SUSPENDS CONSIDERATION OF ACCORD TO OPEN TURKEY BORDER
Helena Bedwell

Georgiandaily
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April 22 2010
Georgia

April 22 (Bloomberg) — Armenia suspended consideration of a treaty
with Turkey that would reopen their common border until the Turkish
government indicates a readiness to proceed toward ratification
"without preconditions," the Armenian Foreign Ministry said.

"The political majority in the National Assembly of Armenia
considers unacceptable the Turkish side’s stance, particularly recent
statements by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which make
ratification of the protocols directly dependent upon settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijan conflict," the ministry said today
in an e-mailed statement.

Erdogan in December linked the normalization of relations with Armenia
to the resolution of a dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a key Turkish ally and energy supplier.

The two nations agreed on Oct. 10 to re-establish ties and open their
border within two months of ratification by both parliaments.

Relations have been frozen since Turkey closed the border in 1993
to protest Armenia’s occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region in
Azerbaijan.

Armenia on April 24 will commemorate the killing of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey in 1915. Many Armenians are concerned the treaty could
lead to compromise on Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia’s demand that
Turkey recognize the World War I massacre of Armenians in Ottoman
Turkey as genocide.

Erdogan said in Ankara today that Turkey is committed to the accord,
which he called the best way to peace in the Caucasus.